Please note that the ownership of the copyright of the work will belong to the creator unless stated otherwise in your agreement and contract.

For your information, the ownership of the copyright can be assigned or transferred,  if both parties are agreeable to the terms which is a private agreement or contract between the parties.

You should read the terms and conditions relating to the NFT carefully. These can usually be found in the terms of sale and terms of the platform provider. The metadata of the NFT may also provide an indication but you will have to verify if these are intended to have contractual effect.

These terms may specify the IP rights that you will receive, and set out what you can and cannot do with the NFT and the underlying digital asset. If you have any doubts, you should confirm your understanding with the issuer or holder of the NFT (as the case may be) prior to purchasing the NFT.

As discussed here, one should not assume that ownership of the NFT is equivalent to owning the IP rights in the underlying digital asset. Whether you can commercialise the artwork or create derivative artworks will depend on the rights you have acquired as the NFT holder.

For example, the terms of sale may state that by purchasing the NFT, all IP rights in the underlying artwork will be assigned to you, or the terms of sale may only grant you a limited licence in relation to the artwork. In the latter case, you may only use the artwork within the scope of the licence granted. Therefore, if the licence is for non-commercial use, then commercial use will be in breach of the licence.

This depends on whether you own the rights to the underlying asset which will be the subject of the NFT (for example, copyright in the artwork or piece of music). If you do not, you will have to ensure that you have permission to use the underlying asset to avoid inadvertently infringing the IP rights in the asset, such as copyright and trade mark rights, of other parties. See Section 2 in this document.

In a recent case, a rare book was acquired for a large sum of money and the purchaser intended to commercialise the contents of the book through issuing a series of NFTs replicating excerpts of the contents. However, the purchaser was unable to do so, since they had not acquired the copyright to the book’s contents.

If you are the owner of the underlying asset, you may also wish to consider securing appropriate IP protection (e.g. filing for trade mark registration for the underlying asset) so that you are in a position to control unauthorised use of the underlying asset by holders of the NFT. In respect of applying for trade mark protection for your mark in Singapore, you may wish to refer to IPOS’ circular on Classification Practices on NFTs and Metaverse-related Goods and Services.

You should consider what rights you wish to grant to holders of your NFTs, and what purposes such holders can and cannot use your NFTs for. For instance, you may wish to make clear that holders of your NFTs do not own the IP rights to the artwork in your NFTs and not make derivative versions of the artwork.

You should also consider how you will make these terms binding on all holders of your NFTs, including purchasers and subsequent purchasers. Often, this is done through the inclusion of terms in the contract of sale for the NFT. You should check whether your marketplace platform allows you to include such terms in the sale of your NFT. Some platforms include standard terms that are binding on all transactions occurring on their platform. In relation to other intricate rights such as fund-raising rights, or giving NFT holders the right to vote on your platform, you may wish to seek further legal advice on whether such rights can be given effect to, and if they are regulated under Singapore law.

You may wish to check the terms of the relevant NFT platform provider to see if the platform provider is able to render assistance to stop the NFT issuer from issuing the NFT on their platform. If such assistance is not available, you may wish to seek further legal advice on enforcement of your rights and remedies available. IPOS offers regular complimentary IP Legal Clinics for Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents and Singapore registered businesses to seek preliminary advice on IP infringement matters from lawyers. Find out more here.

Copyright protects works like novels, computer programs, plays, sheet music, and paintings. Generally, the author of a copyrighted work has the right to reproduce, publish, perform, communicate, and adapt his work. These exclusive rights form the bundle of rights that we call copyright and enable the owner to control the commercial exploitation of his work.

Copyright protects the expression of ideas (e.g. words and illustrations). Ideas alone are not protected.

The following may be protected under copyright law:

•Literary works (e.g., written works, source codes of computer programs)

•Dramatic works (e.g.,. scripts for films and dramas)

•Musical works (e.g., melodies)

•Artistic works (e.g., paintings, photographs)

•Published editions of the above works

•Sound recordings

•Films

•Television and radio broadcasts

•Cable programmes

•Performances

There is no need to file for registration to get copyright protection. An author automatically enjoys copyright protection as soon as he creates and expresses his original work in a tangible form, such as in a recording or writing. Originality simply means that there is a degree of independent effort in the creation of the work.

A copyright work created by a Singapore citizen or resident is protected in many countries overseas by virtue of international agreements. Generally, under these international agreements, the work of a Singapore citizen or resident would be protected in countries that signed the agreements as though the work was made there.

In practice, authors have resorted to a number of ways to preserve their interests. They may have:

•Deposited a copy of their work with their lawyers or in a depository

•Sent a copy of their work to themselves by post leaving the envelope unopened so that the date stamp and the unopened work could establish the date of the work’s existence

•Made a declaration before a Commissioner of Oaths stating the facts of ownership and the date of creation

However, these are by no means fool proof methods of proving authorship as they do not prove that the work is original or created by the author. In a dispute, the Court will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to prove the authorship.

In practice, the © symbol is usually followed by the year when copies of the work were first made available and the name of the copyright owner. Sometimes there may also be a statement indicating the terms of permitted use. In cases where owners only allow for very limited use, the term “All Rights Reserved” may be found after the symbol.

Attached is the link to the copyright infopack for your easy reference.

IPOS | Copyright Resources

There are different types of Intellectual Property (IP)s such as Trade Mark and Copyright.  An (IP) protection is territorial in nature.  

Copyright-Refers to protection of literary works (for example: books, drawings, music, website):

Copyright protects literary works like novels, plays, drawings, paintings, sheet music, computer programme, websites. Generally, the author of a copyright work has the right to reproduce, publish, perform, communicate and adapt his work. These different exclusive rights form the bundle of rights that we call copyright.  An author automatically enjoys copyright protection as soon as he creates and expresses his original work in a tangible form, such as in a recording or writing. Originality simply means that there is a degree of independent effort in the creation of the work. 

In Singapore, there is no need to file for registration to get copyright protection.  However, there are a number of ways that you could preserve your interests.  You may,

• Deposited a copy of your work with your lawyers or in a depository

• Sent a copy of your work to yourself by post leaving the envelope unopened so that the date stamp and the unopened work could establish the date of the work’s existence

• Made a declaration before a Commissioner of Oaths stating the facts of ownership and the date of creation

As the copyright owner, you will enjoy the exclusive rights to :

• reproduce the work;

• publish the work if the work is unpublished;

• perform the work in public;

• communicate the work to the public; and

• make an adaptation of the work

For more information on copyright, you may refer here.

Articles from newspapers, books and other forms of publications are protected by copyright. You generally need the copyright owners' consent to make copies for use on your website/blog. Merely acknowledging the source will not be enough to avoid infringing copyright in the publications.

The copyright owner may be the publisher, or the individual author, especially if he/she is a freelancer. You should start by checking the copyright notice of the publication.

However, there may not be copyright infringement if your use of the publication falls within the “fair use" exception under sections 190 – 194 of the Copyright Act . “Fair use” includes situations of news reporting and criticisms or review. For such uses, you will need to make a sufficient acknowledgement of the work used.